DVD Review: CSI: The Complete Third Season

04/07/04

There are several reasons ?CSI: Crime Scene Investigation? is the most popular drama on American television. For starters, the writing is masterful, with scripts that advance the plot of each episode in a deliberately paced and appropriate way. The acting also contributes to the show?s success, with top-notch casting from the main characters all the way down to the role-players. It?s ultimately the entire package, though, that makes CSI worthy of its Emmy Award-winning status and cult-like following. The release of ?CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ? The Complete Third Season? on DVD carries much of the same promise. As would be expected from a compilation of this type, the majority of the content on the six-disk set is comprised of the 23 third-season shows, so the quality is inherent in the package. Yet the bonus features included in the collection add to the already-high production value of the series and DVD set. As a result, fans of the series, if not fans of the murder/mystery genre in general, will want to give this collection some serious investigation. For the five of you out there who are unfamiliar with the series, ?CSI? is essentially a mix of ?Murder, She Wrote? and ?The X-Files.? Full of puzzling crimes and intriguing characters, ?CSI? follows the work of a crime-scene forensics lab based in Las Vegas as they use scientific processes to solve crimes. In many respects, the lead character, Gil Grissom (played by William L. Peterson) is a modern-day Angela Lansbury, continually trying to get to the bottom of the mystery and determine whodunit. Unlike the ?Murder, She Wrote? star, though, Gil relies on the scientific, Scully-like competencies of the entire CSI team rather than just his own, wily ways. The ?X-Files? flavor comes through even more in the show?s dark, gritty scenarios (sans the sci-fi bend, of course) and surprisingly high production value, complete with Hollywood-caliber special effects. The formula for ?CSI? has proved incredibly addictive for thousands of Americans, so much so that the show has seen one spinoff already, has another on the way, and has even spawned a video game from Ubisoft. The third season, though, which is the focus of this collection, is perhaps the show?s most successful, having won an Emmy award for the "Fright Night" episode in which the CSI team investigates the death of a prize fighter. This episode is but one of 23, though, and the other 22 episodes warrant equal attention. Most of the disks in ?CSI ? The Complete Third Season? encompass four episodes per disk. Disc 1 includes the shows ?Revenge Is Best Served Cold,? ?The Accused Is Entitled,? ?Let The Seller Beware? and ?A Little Murder.? The second disk includes the episodes ?Abra Cadaver,? ?The Execution Of Catherine Willows,? the Emmy Award-winning ?Fight Night? and ?Snuff.? Disk three features ?Blood Lust,? ?High And Low,? ?Recipe For Murder? and ?Got Murder?? The fourth disk in the collection contains the shows ?Random Acts Of Violence,? ?One Hit Wonder,? ?Lady Heather?s Box? and ?Lucky Strike,? while the fifth disk features ?Crash And Burn,? ?Precious Metal,? ?A Night At The Movies? and ?Last Laugh.? The last disk in the collection features three episodes (?Forever,? ?Play With Fire? and ?Inside The Box?), and with the extra space afforded by having one less episode, is home to many of the collection?s bonus features. Granted, five of the episodes have commentary tracks, but the majority of the DVD bonuses appear on this final disk. It seems the producers at Paramount realize how high the show?s production values are, and as such they use many of the DVD extras to focus on the production-related aspects of the show. For example, the ?CSI Tour: Police Station? is a nine-minute, behind-the-scenes look at the small details that help bring the show?s Las Vegas sets to life, while ?CSI Field Lab? shows some of the technical equipment used to solve the show?s crimes. ?The CSI Shot: Making it Real,? on the other hand, continues the production-value escapades from a special-effects standpoint, showing, in one instance, how the producers get the camera to ?zoom? into a bullet hole and look well into the corpse. Special effects nuts (myself included) will have an absolute heyday with this 12-minute featurette. As mentioned above, one production aspect of the show that?s not lost on most avid viewers is the excellent writing in ?CSI,? and ?The Writers? Room? bonus feature takes an in-depth look at just what goes into making an episode leap from concept to the final written product. Perhaps to support the featurette about the writing process, the final DVD bonus, ?CSI: Moving Into Season 3,? highlights the various character developments during the third season, which naturally had to be carefully finessed by the writers all season long. The end result of all this episodic and bonus goodness is an impeccable package for ?CSI? junkies. As expected from a show broadcast in HDTV, the video quality is outstanding, and it is complemented by support for Dolby Digital audio. Combine those aspects with an already-solid TV series, and ?CSI ? The Complete Third Season? is one DVD collection that fans of the series will most definitely not want to miss.
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